Is data protection an excessive obstacle to the implementation of security systems? PRIO researcher Rocco Bellanova analyses the EU-US 2012 Passenger Name Record Agreement and the US Automated Targeting System.

All along the last decade, data protection scored high on the transatlantic agenda, especially when it comes to the development and implementation of security practices focusing on the control of mobilities. Indeed, transatlantic debates and agreements on data protection have proceeded in parallel and in connection to the set up of a wide range of socio-technical systems aiming at constructing and reinforcing internal security on both side of the Atlantic. While data protection is often criticized as an excessive obstacle to the implementation of security systems, this intervention argues that transatlantic data protection politics proves much more ambiguous. Contrary to many conceptualizations, the eventual ‘excess’ of data protection operates less against internal security than against the protection of privacy. This intervention is based on the analysis of the EU-US 2012 Passenger Name Record Agreement and the US Automated Targeting System.

The seminar is organized by Senter for rettsinformatikk (SERI) at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo.